


She sells seashells with the Scientist Salarian

by FetFemme



Series: Reaper Wars [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Delusions, F/M, Heavy Angst, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Renegade Commander Shepard, Seashells, Shakarian - Freeform, The Reaper War, background female shepard/garrus, killing mordin, priority tuchanka, shroud - Freeform, urdnot BAKARA - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 19:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8070313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FetFemme/pseuds/FetFemme
Summary: Just a peaceful moment when Garrus is sun-bathing, and Shepard is helping Mordin find the right seashells to experiment on. Very dark, reluctant renegade Shepard, background Shakarian, Priority Tuchanka, angsty, a little confusing... get your tissues out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why this came to me

“Shepard, need seven more for the control group. Preferably at least one colored a dark orange, has more composition influenced by sand patterns.”

The sun was bright in her eyes, shining white-blue radiantly against the sand of the ground. Trees neither littered the area, nor the horizon of the land. Her toes wiggled in the purple-red sand, partially with delight, partially with discomfort. Her bare feet sank into the sand, but she was just happy to be here on vacation.  

Her eyes scanned ruthlessly along the ground.  _Seven more. Just seven more. Keep an eye out for a dark orange one.”_ she muttered in her head. She briefly took a moment to look to the side. Her heart melted as she watched her love sunbathe, his entire body stretched out along a blanket. His fringe was supported by a large beach pillow, his carapace was angled to catch the sun for maximum warmth, and his legs were bent so his spurs didn’t catch on the thin fabric of the blanket. He trilled happily with his subvocals rumbling in his chest, his head turning side to side to soak up the sun. She smiled, giggling lightly under her breath, Garrus sat up a bit to wink at her.

She shook her head slightly, looking at her other side to capture the salarian in her view. Mordin’s skin was a darker red, having tanned from the sun. He’d swapped out his trademark lab coat for a cool, strangely stylish tunic that fell to his knees. He was on the ground, carefully dusting off seashells with a disinfectant-soaked brush, humming that song he’d sang to her in the research lab where they’d first bonded. She remembered his distaste at the thought of the Collector’s having no culture before bursting joyfully in his parody of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Suddenly the sound of explosions paraded onto her ears, blanketing the bright skies with black dust. The sounds of walls collapsing rang thunderously, violently echoing throughout the beach. She covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut desperately, a whimper escaping from her lips. She raised her head to look for her friends, but both continued their beach vacation as nothing has happened. Her turian even kept basking in the non existent sunlight, acting as if the randomly appearing smog would warm up his plates just as quickly as the planet’s star. She cried out, terrified beyond her wits.

She peeked beyond her eyelids. The sky cleared instantaneously.

Her body relaxed a little from her fearful crouch. She lowered her hands from her ears, shaking her head to dislodge the sand that had tangled into her hair and dusted behind her ears. Returning her eyes to the sand, she dropped to her knees to search closer. 

She found one seashell. It was not dark orange. It was a nauseous green speckled violently with sparkling shards of black glass. Mordin would like this one, he’d fondly recall the green color of salarian blood, something he came across often in his stint in the STG. She stood up, briskly walking over the soft, sinking sand to Mordin. She held the seashell out to him but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Mordin.” she called out. He still didn’t look up. She tapped her little shovel against her hip impatiently, resisting the urge to rub her face with her sand-covered hands. After a fair amount of pestering -and probably a steady bruise on her hip- he looked up to her. His eyes watered with betrayal, like empty, shining, endless black pools.

The sky colored behind him as if someone had blotted out the skies with ink. “Mordin?” She asked shakily, “Are you okay?”

His thin lip curled with disgust. He snatched the seashell out of her hands, turning it over and examining with his lanky fingers,“Hmm.” He huffed, “Certainly not concerned for _my_ safety.” He spat on the shell and threw it at her bare feet, she flinched away. But he continued on. “Concerned I might discover something?” He pressed aggressively, his last words bordering on hysteria, “Sabotage? But whose?”

He rushed forward, his movements slightly hidden by the darkening skies. He grabbed her upper arms tightly, shaking her harshly, “Why are you sabotaging me, Shepard?!” He wailed, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a sobbing growl, “Changed my ways, learned for the better. Why condemn me?” She struggled uselessly in his grip, as his sobs got lost in the returning sounds of explosions and thunder. He threw her to the ground and picked his seashells back up quickly, crying gently over the tests he’s lost data on.

Something clearly was very wrong.

Returning her eyes to the sand, she frantically pushed her hands into the sand, wiping away the looser dirt in her need to find more seashells. _She needed to find these seashells NOW so she could take Mordin and Garrus away from this place._ The scientist salarian could suck it up and test his goddamn seashells back in the Normandy.  _I MADE A MISTAKE!_ she heard the wailing growl cut through her thoughts. She turned back to the Salarian in case he was about to rage at her again, but he’s shown no signs of yelling at her, still crying over the seashells cupped into his hands. Behind him, the sky started to clear, and she’d heard his overlapping voice echo against the horizon.  She dug hopelessly, the skin of her hands catching on rocks and cutting her. Soon drops of blood were staining the sand below her. _Had to be me, someone else could’ve gotten it wrong._

She shook her head violently, she stood on the Tuchankan Shroud, keeping her body centered as the ground violently shuddered.“Mordin, is the cure ready yet?” Shepard asked breathlessly, impatiently rubbing her face and tapping her Carniflex pistol against her armored hip with the other.  He continued tapping away at the holographic keyboard with abandon.

“Yes, loaded for dispersal in 2 minutes. Will proceed, may be traumatic for Eve but not lethal. Maelon’s research data proven invaluable.”

“She's ok?” She asked, voice tinged with relief. Though a pang of guilt sank into her chest as she remembered the repercussions of her heavy decision. _Ruthless calculus, just remember that I have to do the ruthless calculus here_. Krogan war aides + Salarian Scientists for the Crucible= No Reapers.

“Headed to safety now. Revival fortunate. Will stabilize the government should Wrex get any ideas. good match, promising future for Krogan.”

The ground beneath them shook with loud explosions. “Damn it.” she swore under her breath

“Control room at top of Shroud tower, must take elevator up.”

“You're going up there?”

“Yes. Readings at lab suggest temperature malfunction. Could affect cure viability, need to adjust settings manually..”

“Mordin, it's too dangerous! We need to get out of here!” She yelled with urgency, watching the ceiling crack under the pressure of the ongoing bombardment of warfare.

“No.” He shook his head, clapping his hands together softly “Temperature variance could destroy the cure. Time running out. Have to go up.”

“Mordin,” She said stonily, ceasing the tapping on her hip. “You're not going up.”

“Hmm. Not concerned for _my_ safety. Concerned I might discover something? Sabotage? But whose? Ah.” He paused, tilting his head, scratching his left horn. He sneered. “Why Shepard? That desperate for salarian aid? Or _that afraid of the Krogan_?” His words were spat cruelly towards her.

“Every time we've talked about this before you've defended the genophage! Hell, I had to talk you into saving Maelon’s data! How can you change your mind now?”

“I _made a mistake_!” He screamed, desperation tinged on the edge of his voice, before lowering his voice into an ashamed whisper, “I made a mistake... Focused on big picture. Big picture made of little pictures. Too many variables. Can't hide behind statistics. Can't ignore new data. My responsibilities. Need to go. Running out of time.”

He edged towards the elevator, confident in his movements but still wary of any falling debris. Shepard drew her gun and pointed it at his back. He whipped around at the click of her heatsink and watched the barrel of her pistol line up with his chest with a knowing dread. “Mordin.” She bit out through gritted teeth. “Walk. Away.”

He breathed in deeply through his narrow barely-there nose, before closing his eyes and breathing out of his mouth shortly, “Can't do that, Shepard.”

“I don't have a choice here,” She argued, thrusting her gun closer to him. “Walk away or I will fire.”

“Not your decision.” He shook his head, pacing lightly in front of the elevator, “Not your work. Not your choice.” He breathed in and out again, smirking bitterly. “Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”

Before she could argue again, he threw up his hand to silence her, “No time to argue. Cure dispersal imminent. Must counteract sabotage in time. Stop me if you must.”

She yelled out his name once more as he turned around and marched into the elevator, back stiff and shoulders high with purpose. She lifts her gun and aims, before closing her eyes and pulling the trigger three times. Her eyes flutter open in time to see green blood spray from his back, three mortal wounds seeping into his chest and stomach. He looks at her coldly -eyes unfocused with agony- before he slumping down and falling into the elevator controls. 

The elevator dings and lifts above the ground. Shepard chokes back sobs, watching her beloved salarian tremble with pain as he’s carried to the top floor. She heard the echoes of the computer console shouting at top volume. She dropped to the ground on her knees as her chest heaved with self-disgust, she cried out through clenched teeth. Her gun clattered the her feet, tears streamed down her face and she choked on her sobs, watching through blurry eyes as the building kept collapsing around her.

**_“WARNING: TEMPERATURE FUNCTION DETECTED. WARNING: TEMPERATURE DISFUNCTION DETECTED. WARNING DISPERSAL COMMENCING.”_ **

“Fucking seashells.” She sobbed out to the room empty of everything but debris. She tried to gather composure before walking out to the gaggle of krogan outside the Shroud. Her face was still wet and tear stained, her cheeks and nose red, and her gun collected from the floor with shaky hands. She staggered out in a near-fugue state. Immediately after, the sky exploded from the tip of the shroud, white flakes raining down and dissolving into every surfaced it touched.

 

Eve, Wrex, Grunt, and Tali rushed towards her while she stared at the palm of her hand numbly. They stopped to look at the sky in wonder. Wrex spread his arms out to take in as much of “the cure” as possible. He wandered in front of the group, uncharacteristically quiet. Shepard just followed, the betrayal in Mordin’s big black eyes the only thing she could really see ahead of her.

Eve cast a worried glance at her, but before she could ask, Wrex came to a halting stop.

“A long time ago,” He rumbled, leaving his arms spread against the snow-like flakes of the genophage cure, he paced lightly to take in the scenery, “My father betrayed me in this place. His own son, he tried to kill me. Had to kill him. Right over here.” He pointed, “That's what the genophage does, reduce us to animals but you changed that today Shepard.” He set his arms to his side, Eve sidled up to his side, bowing her head in respect. “Now we fight for our children, not against.” She paused, blinking slowly from under her hood, “It's just a pity that Mordin had to die.”

Shepard stiffened slightly, “You mean up on the tower?”

The female krogan nodded. “Yes. That was the courage of the highest order, sacrificing himself so that our children may live.”

Wrex chuckled, “A thousand years from now we'll probably be singing about him.” He jerked his chin at Shepard, “You too.”

“However.” Eve cut in, “You Commander, we can thank in person.”

Wrex nodded in agreement, “You've been a champion to the Krogan people, a friend of Clan Urdnot... and a sister to me. To every Krogan born after this day, the name ‘Shepard’ will mean ‘hero!’” Wrex grabbed her forearm and raised it between their chests in an intimate handshake, reserved only for warriors of the highest caliber. Wrex huffed, “Tell the turians I'll be deploying troops to palaven immediately. and when you're ready to kick the Reapers off of Earth, you let me know. The Krogan are back in business.” He punched his fists together excitedly. Eve shook her head with a smile, leaning a large hand against her shoulder. “Goodbye Commander.”

“What will you do now?” She called out.

Eve paused, smiling serenely, “Spread the hope you've given us. Even now there are clans gathering in the Kelphic Valley. We will speak to them and make sure this gift isn’t squandered, I thank you for all that you've done. And, know that Urdnot Bakara calls you a friend.”

  
  


_Mordin cried out softly, clutching his arms around his chest and stomach in a futile attempt to staunch the blood flowing from his wounds. When the elevator dinged with completion, he stumbled out slowly, “Not yet... Not.. yet... No... Not... ready.”_ _He fell heavily to his knees, resorting to pulling his dead weight with his weak, trembling arms. He had trouble focusing. His voice shakily muttered a song under his breath, swallowing the blood rising in his throat with a slight gag. “I am… the very model of a scientist… salarian.”_

  **_“WARNING: TEMPERATURE FUNCTION DETECTED._ **

  _"_ _I'm... B_ _y the time he’s gotten there, he’s noticed the green trail of blood behind him, streaking his medical uniform until it was unrecognizable. He didn’t have the energy to sit up anymore. He jumped as the computer screamed out a warning._ **_“_ ** **_WARNING DISPERSAL COMMENCING.”_ **_The distraction was enough to send him crashing into the ground, but he was determined to redouble his efforts in reaching the computer in time. However, the temperature malfunctions had begun to spark and take to flames._

_"My xenoscience... studies range from urban to agrarian… I am the very model of a scientist salari-”_


End file.
